STE P BY STE P Easy being green

We’ve provided the face – you and Elements can easily do the rest

01 Cut-out and add leaves Open leaves_before.jpg, then grab the Quick Selection tool and paint to select the face and neck. Go to Select>Refine Edge, then set Radius 2.1, Contrast 25%, Shift Edge +17. Set Output to: New Layer and hit OK. Next, go to Window>Graphics. Set ‘By Word’ and type ‘Brass Leaves’. Drag the graphic into the image. 03 Copy and clip the face Rename the background copy layer ‘face’, then drag it above the lowermost leaves layer. Hold Alt and click on the line between the two layers to clip the face to the leaves. Next hold Alt and drag the face layer above the next leaves layer to make a copy, and Alt+click the line. Repeat to cover all the leaves layers. 05 Add shadows and colour Check Drop Shadow and set Angle 40, Size 18, Distance 6, Opacity 90. Hit OK. Alt-drag the fx icon to copy to every ‘leaves’ layer. Highlight the top layer. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation. Set Hue +61. Alt+click the line to clip the layer to the face. Copy/clip similar layers above every face layer, varying colours. 02 Build up the leaves Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T, then transform and position the leaves over the face. Next hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the leaves, then transform again to make it look different from the first layer by rotating, resizing and right-clicking for more options like Distort. Continue making more copies until the face is mostly covered. 04 Mask the leaves Hold Cmd/Ctrl and click the thumbnail on the top face layer to load a selection. Highlight the leaves layer below, then click the Add Layer Mask icon. Hold Alt and drag the mask thumbnail to all the other leaves layers to copy it. Next, highlight any leaves layer and go to Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings. 06 Drop in the background Go to the Graphics Panel, search for ‘leaves 02’ and bring it in. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T, right-click and pick Flip Horizontal. Add a Brightness/Contrast layer set to 10, 100, then add a Solid Colour Adjustment Layer filled with black. Grab the Brush tool, set colour to black and 30% brush opacity, then paint to reveal the green layer.